MBNA America 400 - Christian Fittipaldi Notes

Christian Fittipaldi Notes, Quotes: Dover 400
‘Bugles and Dover: The Perfect Combination’

Returning to the wheel of the #44 Bugles Dodge, this weekend Christian Fittipaldi and the #44 Bugles team head to the one-mile Dover (Del.) International Speedway for Sunday’s Dover 400. Bugles will again sponsor Fittipaldi, one of a combination of races featuring the popular snack food. He will also race the #44 Bugles Dodge later this year at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., and at the Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

In the summer of 2002 Fittipaldi signed on to drive for the legendary Petty Enterprises. An open-wheel star, Fittipaldi, 33, is a former two-time CART winner (California Speedway and Road America) and Formula One World Championship driver. Fittipaldi is the first-ever Brazilian native to run full time in NASCAR’s top series and is the only full-time NASCAR driver to have raced full-time in Formula One and CART.

The thoughts of #44 Bugles Dodge driver Christian Fittipaldi heading into Dover:

“It’s very fitting to see that a very unique snack food like Bugles is going to be on the side on my car this weekend at Dover. Bugles is a unique snack food, and Dover is a unique race track. It’s a fast one-mile, completely banked, smoothly-surfaced concrete oval. That’s different! I don’t think anyone can compare Bugles snacks to any other, and I don’t think you can compare Dover to any other track. Both stand out for their positives very distinctly.

“We were able to test at Dover for two full days last week and I think we came away with a very good understanding of where we need to be when we return. The track is very, very quick and it’s a very nice track. It’s a concrete surface, and you would think that it would be very bumpy, but it’s not. The track surface is smooth and it’s almost a little surprising to feel how smooth it is in the car. It’s not like Bristol where you can feel the bumps. It’s going to be a good race at Dover. The action is going to be fast, and cars will be able to pass high and low.

“We left the track pretty happy with our testing results. You know that the guys who are handling the best are the ones who are going to do well this weekend. The turns are the most important part of Dover. They are banked, sweeping and fast. You can’t lose speed in the turns. You want to carry your momentum through them into the straightaways. During testing, we worked on getting the best handling we could get out of the car on short runs, then on long runs and then on everything in between. There just isn’t any time that you want to have a loose or a tight handling car. The better it handles the faster you’re going to be at Dover.

“Dover is unique, but if you wanted to say it’s like anything I guess you would say it’s an oversized Bristol - a really oversized Bristol. Although Bristol and Dover look like they would be the same, it’s too tough to say they are because Dover is so smooth. You just don’t think of concrete being a smooth racing surface. If there was an art for making concrete smooth, those guys at Dover would walk away with the gold medal. They have really mastered that art. The banking isn’t as high at Dover either. You don’t want to ‘diamond’ the turns at Dover. The smoother and straighter the line the more you are going to carry your momentum at Dover and be faster.

“The race is going to be about tire management and handling. If you can control those factors this weekend you’re going to have a good day. Pit strategy will come into play once again. Teams are going to be guessing on two tires, four tires or no tires at all. It’s going to be interesting on those last pit stops. We learned a lot at testing and I think that’s going to be to our advantage on race day. You want to have the best combination at the end of the day to make sure you’re still getting the most of the car. This track has a lot of zip to it and we want this Bugles Dodge to have plenty of zip at the end of the day. We are all excited to return to Dover and get this #44 Bugles Dodge back on the track.”

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